


Pacific Marvel

by singingwithoutwords



Category: Pacific Rim (2013), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And He's Not Sorry Either, Angst, Badasses With Terrible Backstories, Crossover, Did I Mention Angst?, Everyone Needs A Hug, Kaiju, Kaiju Getting Their Asses Kicked, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-07
Updated: 2013-12-11
Packaged: 2018-01-03 22:57:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/singingwithoutwords/pseuds/singingwithoutwords
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They plugged the hole in the sky, and another one opened under the sea.  They killed one Kaiju, and another came to take its place.  The war seems endless, but Tony Stark does not give up, and Raleigh Becket does not turn his back on those in need.  Whatever their flaws, whatever their doubts, the world needs saving.  Nothing is more important than that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Belief, Understanding, and What We Know

"I'm leaving tomorrow."

Raleigh made a soft, disinterested noise in the back of his throat to show he'd heard, staring out the window toward the horizon.

"That means you have until tomorrow to decide."

Raleigh turned just enough to stare across the room where Steve stood. "Decide what?" he asked with vague curiosity. It was so hard to wonder, to care, since Yancy-

Since Yancy.

"What you're going to do," Steve said, walking over to sit on the wide window ledge across from Raleigh. "I can't stay here and look after you forever, Raleigh. You have to decide where to go."

Raleigh turned his gaze back to the ocean, stretching out of sight, dark and cold under an overcast sky. There was nothing left of Yancy there, just debris and rotting Kaiju flesh, marine life poisoned by Blue, but to Raleigh it would always be Yancy's grave.

"And if I want to go to Yancy?" he asked. The thought had crossed his mind. He could go down to the beach, dive into the frigid waters and swim until the ocean claimed him, too.

"Do you want to?" Steve asked gently. For such a big guy, Steve could be amazingly gentle when he wanted.

"I don't know," Raleigh admitted, closing his eyes to block the ocean out. "Sometimes. Sometimes I want... I wish... I wish Knifehead had taken me, too." Not instead, he would never wish this pain on Yancy, but if they'd been able to die together...

"Yeah."

Steve didn't feed him platitudes, or tell him he was wrong to feel that way. He didn't point out that Raleigh surviving was all that had kept Knifehead from Anchorage, or that Yancy would have wanted him to survive, because Steve _understood_ , in a way no one else he'd met could. Steve had told him, in that first terrible week after he'd left the Icebox behind, about the Commandos. About going to sleep and waking up to find his entire world gone. About Bucky, Peggy, Howard, how well he understood loss and grief. Steve _knew_.

Steve reached over and patted Raleigh's knee. Raleigh had seen that hand crush concrete without even meaning to, but he barely felt the touch through his pants.

"Think about it tonight," Steve said. "Let me know in the morning."

"Will you stop me if I try?"

"No."

Raleigh nodded, opening his eyes again, returning his focus to the ocean once more. Steve didn't leave. He didn't need to. They were comfortable with each other, after all this time, and Raleigh didn't mind his company.

They sat in silence, each lost in their own memories, as the afternoon wore on and the sun set, burning through the cloud cover for a last defiant lightshow before it sank into the sea. 

* * *

 

Steve left the next morning, alone. He headed south, because there was good he could do there. Raleigh wished him luck, then packed his own meager belongings and left the dilapidated hotel that had been his home for the past seven months. The town was abandoned, falling to pieces, and it would have been a good place to die, had Raleigh decided on that end.

But Raleigh had spent too long with Steve. He'd lived too much in Steve's warmth and the ever-present sorrow in his too-blue eyes, his steadfast faith in humankind in general and Raleigh in particular. He'd listened to Steve say _you're stronger than you think you are,_ too many times to ignore it. He believed in Steve.

Maybe, in time, he'd grow to believe in himself.

So Raleigh shouldered his bag and struck out for the main roads. He couldn't go back to the Icebox, couldn't crawl back into a Jaeger, but there were other ways to protect people. Steve's way. The Wall. Anything but throwing his life away.

It was October 5th, 2020. Raleigh Becket was still alive, and there was work to do.


	2. Preparations and Steve Being Steve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are so many clocks ticking down to Armageddon it's a wonder anyone can hear themselves think, and Steve just can't help being the way he is.

 

**  
12 October, 2024**

**Hong Kong Shatterdome**

**21:54 local time**

Tony sneezed loudly. Then, just in case his point hadn't been made quite clear enough, sneezed twice more in quick succession.

“Sorry,” he apologized insincerely, grinning at the bank of screens and the scowling politicians on them. “Allergic reaction. Bullshit sets me off something fierce.”

“Mr. Stark-” one of the representatives began sternly, but he interrupted her.

“Don't 'Mr. Stark' me, sweetheart,” he said. “You and me and everybody else at this little pow-wow of ours know that those walls of yours aren't going to keep out jack shit. I've done the math you paid your lab monkeys to fudge, and a _category three_ can bust through one. In an hour. Two at most.”

“Mr. Stark, what you're implying-”

“What, that you're pulling funds from humanity's last line of defense and pouring it into an obviously flawed project that the guy who cleans your offices can tell isn't going to work?”

“That's enough, Mr. Stark.”

“Obviously not, honey,” Tony said with his best poison smile. “But in order for me to change your minds, you'd have to _have_ minds to begin with, and we don't have time for lost causes.”

“That will do, Mr. Stark,” Pentecost said in that tone of voice that had Tony pretty much convinced he really _was_ Fury's long-lost twin brother.

“Yes, sir,” Tony said with a bright media smile, sitting back and relinquishing the floor, so to speak.

“As I was saying,” Representative Taylor said, clearing his throat. “We're willing to fund the Jaeger program for an additional eight months. After that, unless Mr. Stark has another billion or two squirreled away, the program will be shut down.”

Tony resisted the bait. “I'll check my sock drawer,” was all he said, still smiling.

Taylor scowled, but wisely didn't comment. “That will be all, Marshal,” he said instead, apparently deciding to ignore Tony, and the bank of screens devoted to the UN went dark, leaving only the link to the Anchorage Shatterdome live.

“Is it really necessary to antagonize them, Mr. Stark?” Pentecost demanded with a scowl that put Taylor's to shame.

“Yes,” Tony said. “Someone has to let them know they're not fooling us, and it's not as if they can fire me.”

“You can be dismissed.”

“Not by them. I'm a volunteer and a civilian, and my presence here is an internal matter. You've got total control over who does and doesn't work for or with the PPDC, whether they realize it or not- the only person with the authority to send me packing is you. And let's face it, if you haven't booted me yet, you're not going to.”

“He's got you there, Stacker,” Herc said. Tony liked him; he didn't put up with anyone's bullshit, and he didn't mind Tony speaking up on his behalf when saying something himself would compromise his position as a Ranger. “Stark's ours, come Hell or Kaiju, and not much those suits can do.”

“It's so nice to be appreciated,” Tony remarked to no one in particular before sobering. “So. I assume you'll be touring the rest of the Domes as they close; when can we expect you back here?”

“No earlier than December,” Pentecost said. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a slim metal container, taking out a pill and popping it. Tony felt the fact he still hadn't dug up what those pills were for meant he was maturing as a person. “I'll be sending Mr. Choi back immediately, to begin preparing.”

Tony nodded. “Got it. Anything I can do in the meantime?”

“I can still send a crew to Oblivion Bay,” Stacker suggested. “If you've changed your mind.”

“No,” Tony said firmly. “It would take more time, effort, and money to refit her for new pilots than it would to build a Jaeger from scratch. Shadowhawk was built special, Marshal, and no one else would be able to pilot her. You'll have to do without.”

Pentecost chose not to push today, which was a blessing. Sometimes he got such a hair up his ass about Shadowhawk that he'd pester Tony for a week. It was exhausting to deal with.

“I'll let you guys go,” Tony said, sighing. “Gotta do the UN's dirty work and all. Tell Chuck and Mako I said hey. See you in December.”

The last screen went dark, and Tony sighed, stretching.

“Coast is clear!” he called.

Bruce shuffled around a wall section, smiling sheepishly. Whenever Tony was forced to attend these little bullshit conferences, Bruce vanished- official types still made him nervous, and the one time he'd stuck around, Taylor had tried to bring up shit that happened 15 years ago involving the Hulk. Tony couldn't blame him for wanting to be scarce.

“Could you hear, or do you need a recap?”

“I heard,” Bruce said. “How are you holding up?”

“As well as ever,” Tony said, shrugging. “Let's get back to the lab. I've got some numbers to crunch for when Hermann gets here, and to fix up some boards for him. Jarvis, make a-” he stopped mid-sentence and mid-stride, closing his eyes.

“I'll make a note,” Bruce said gently.

“You'd think, after nine years, I'd be used to it,” Tony said, disgusted with himself as he always was. He managed to remember just fine that Pepper wasn't around, that Clint and Natasha were dead, why couldn't he keep Jarvis on that mental list?

“It's okay, Tony,” Bruce said, slipping his hand into Tony's and squeezing lightly. “When did you last sleep?”

“When's the last time you made me?”

“Let's go to bed, then. You can deal with those numbers in the morning.”

Tony normally raised a fuss over going to bed regardless of how tired he was, but fuck it; a few hours curled up with Bruce was probably exactly what he needed right now, anyway.

 

**25 December**

**Sitka, Alaska, Wall Construction Site**

**07:35 local time**

 

“Becket, visitor.”

Someone thumped the end of Raleigh's mattress, and he groaned softly, peeling his eyes open to the sound of a closing door.

“You guys wake up late around here, huh?”

Raleigh scrambled out of bed, unable to keep himself from smiling. “You're back!” he said, and only Steve could make him not feel like a moron for stating something that obvious.

Steve nodded, holding his arms out, and Raleigh didn't feel the least bit embarrassed or self-conscious when he hugged him.

“What brings you back so soon?” Raleigh asked, stepping back and grabbing his coat. Steve usually vanished for months at a time, and they'd last seen each other mid-November.

“They shut down the LA Dome,” Steve said, sighing. “People can't head inland down there, so they're heading north instead. Hoping to find an empty spot to settle down again.”

Raleigh nodded, slinging his bag over his shoulder. Ever since the Icebox shut down, he'd been expecting news like that. “So you're just passing through?”

“I might stay a day or two,” Steve admitted, following Raleigh out of the shack he shared with two other men working this section of the Wall. “It's Christmas Day.”

“It is?”

Steve nodded, blushing in that innocent way he had, like a teenager talking to the girl he had a crush on. “I know people don't really celebrate that sort of thing anymore, I just... I realized what the date was, and...” he fumbled in his coat for a minute and pulled out a small notebook, wrapped with a stained red bow.

“You got me a Christmas present.” God, that was... that was so _Steve_. The last person to give him a Christmas present had been Yancy. They'd exchanged cheap gifts, not even wrapped, on Christmas morning without even acknowledging it _was_ Christmas, because who the hell had time for holidays when the world kept trying to end on them? And Steve, who wasn't even related to him and hadn't known they'd be seeing each other, had gotten him something. “I don't have one for you.”

“That's okay, Raleigh, I just- it's honestly not much, really. You can go ahead and open it if you want.”

“You're not real,” Raleigh said, shaking his head with a laugh. He undid the bow carefully, since even stained ribbon had to have been hard to find, and opened the notebook.

It was full of drawings.

Every page was a drawing, or a collection of drawings. Some were landscapes, some were cities, villages of tents, camps strung beside crumbling roads. Some were people, in groups or alone, people Raleigh could have walked by on his way to the Wall any day. Men, women, a group of children collecting firewood, a little girl curled up around a battered stuffed rabbit. Not masterful drawings, but the subjects were recognizable and drawn with... well, with love.

“Did you draw these?” Raleigh asked, looking up in time to catch Steve's embarrassed nod. “That- wow. I... thanks. I really wish I had something to give you, but-”

“Really, it's okay,” Steve said. “I'm just glad you like it.”

Raleigh nodded, slipping the notebook carefully into his bag and hugging Steve again. “Merry Christmas, Steve,” he said.

“Merry Christmas, Raleigh,”

“Come on,” Raleigh said, turning and heading toward the makeshift cafeteria. “I'll buy you breakfast.”

“I don't want to make you waste your rations...” Steve objected.

“That's okay- you can buy me lunch.”

That got Steve to laugh, and Raleigh decided to consider that a second Christmas present.

 

**31 December, 2024**

**Hong Kong Shatterdome**

**06:10 local time**

 

Bruce gave the room one last sweep, fidgeting with his pen. It would be a blessing when Hermann and Newt finally got here- Tony needed the distraction of their company. He was wearing himself and the nerves of everyone around him ragged. Bruce had only gotten him to sleep an hour ago, and that had taken swearing on the arc reactor that he'd personally handle all the last-minute details of the K-Science lab.

And also sleeping pills. And yes, Bruce probably should feel bad about drugging Tony, but Tony knew the rules, and they'd passed the 72-hours-with-no-sleep mark sometime last night.

“Looks like that's everything, guys,” he said out loud, turning to the men who'd agreed to help him move the equipment where it needed to be. “Thank you.”

They tossed off a hazy round of _you're welcome_ s and filed out, yawning in harmony. Bruce watched them go with a slight smile. They were brave men to try and keep pace with both Tony and himself; he'd have to see if there was some way he could repay them.

He set his pen down on one of the desks and sank into the chair, leaning back with a sigh. He was entirely too old to be caught up in all this saving the world business.

“You're up early, Dr. Banner.”

Bruce turned slightly, smiling at the man in the lab doorway. “Late, actually,” he confessed. “Can I help you with something, Tendo?”

“I was hoping to talk to Tony,” Tendo admitted. “How long's he been asleep?”

“An hour,” Bruce said. “Is it important? I know I'm not Tony, but maybe I can help?”

“Nah, it can wait,” Tendo assured him. “Just needed to clarify some stuff on that supply list he gave me. Do I even _want_ to know why you guys need your own personal supply of lab-grade lubricant?”

Bruce blushed. He knew exactly what most people would think, especially people who knew Tony. “Nothing like that,” he said quickly. “Tony's building... he has a personal project. It's very important to him.”

Tendo nodded, making a note on the pad he always seemed to have nearby. “Honestly, I thought that one was a joke. You heading to bed soon?”

“Thinking about it,” Bruce admitted. “When I start whining to myself about my age, it's usually a sign I need sleep.”

“You're only as old as you feel, my man,” Tendo said, grinning.

“Says the 32-year-old.”

“Harsh, Dr. Banner. Consider me wounded.”

“I'll get you a bandage,” Bruce said, hauling himself to his feet. “After I get some sleep. Good night, Tendo.”

“Sleep tight, Dr. Banner,” Tendo said. “I'll have those supplies ready when you guys wake up.”

“Thank you.”

If there was one thing Bruce could be grateful for, it was that most of the people he worked with either weren't aware or just didn't mind that he used to be the Hulk. No one treated him like a time bomb. To everyone here, he was just Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist and Tony Stark's babysitter. He had friends in the Shatterdome. No one here treated him like a monster anymore.

No one that mattered, at least.

He interrupted his own musings with a loud yawn. Yes, definitely time for bed. Maybe if he was there, Tony would be more inclined to stay put once he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the copious amount of Bruce/Tony in this chapter. I promise, this fic is not going to be all about them. ^^;
> 
> Also, fun fact: the oldest character in the movie is Herc Hansen, who was born in 1980 and was 44 during the events of the film. Bruce was born in 1969, making him 55 during this fic, a full 11 years older than Herc, and Tony is only a year younger than Bruce.

**Author's Note:**

> There is a [directory on my tumblr](http://singingwithoutwords.tumblr.com/post/68836409480/mcu-pr-directory) of headcanon and pre-fic info, for those who are interested. Spoilers are clearly marked, if you don't like those.


End file.
